Masters of Venice: A Masked Ball

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ArtPoint invites you to take part in what will undoubtedly become one of the most talked-about events of the year. To celebrate the closing days of Masters of Venice: Renaissance Paintings of Passion and Power from the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, now on view at the de Young, ArtPoint is throwing a spectacular masquerade. Revel in the anonymity afforded by your finest Venetian mask and black tie attire; transport yourself to 15th-century Venice where the use of the mask became the perfect accessory to the love of transgression. Just what may happen is up to you.

Experience firsthand the mystery that for centuries has surrounded the Masquerade Ball. Revelers can expect exquisite works of art, spirited dancing, exotic cocktails provided by Solerno Blood Orange, and a few surprises. Dynamic performers and the musical stylings of San Francisco favorite DJ Solomon will set the stage for an utterly unforgettable night. Who will you be?

VIP guests will enjoy priority entry an hour before the main event, tours of the stunning exhibition, and access to a private VIP lounge all evening serving Stags’ Leap Petit Sirah and Viognier, along with Greg Norman Sparkling Wine and heavy appetizers provided by Union Street Catering.

After indulging in these worldly delights, we beckon you to descend into the museum’s lower lever to view Masters of Venice. The exhibition features 50 magnificent paintings representing the height of Venetian Renaissance painting; these works are among the Kunsthistorisches Museum's most celebrated holdings from art collections built over centuries by the emperors and archdukes of the royal house of Habsburg. The Venetian Renaissance was one of the singular movements in the evolution of Western Art. It forged an artistic vocabulary that took full advantage of the poetic potential of rich atmospheric effects, lustrous color, and the sensuous beauty observed in nature. Venetian painters of the cinquecento transcended the spatial, textural, and representational realism of their predecessors to create works unsurpassed in their emotional and sensual depictions, velvety surfaces and glorious treatment of light.